Alex Stewart

Nominations for New Canaan’s ‘Volunteer Recognition Awards’ Open Through Friday

By |

Representatives for an annual awards ceremony that recognizes New Canaan’s generous volunteers is accepting nominees through 8 p.m. Friday. Individuals can visit this page, linked to through the New Canaan Community Foundation website, to nominate people for various categories of the 2018 Volunteer Recognition Awards, recognizing those who give of their time to benefit others. The people who volunteer in New Canaan are “100 percent and totally committed,” Tracey Karl, a member of the committee that helps organize the awards and ceremony, told NewCanaanite.com. 

“That’s why I love this event,” she said. “I find out about people who I know who volunteer and do things and don’t say anything, they just do it.”

Launched 20 years ago, the Volunteer Recognition Awards since 2015 have been sponsored and overseen by the New Canaan Community Foundation. The awards are specifically designed to spotlight people who have not been recognized for their efforts. 

It’s important to do that, Karl said.

News

Record-High 94 Percent of NCHS Seniors To Enter Internship Program

By |

This spring, 289 New Canaan High School seniors will participate in an increasingly popular internship program that sends the students to work for the last month of the academic year at local and area businesses and organizations. The figure represents about 94 percent of the Class of 2018—marking a high point in the history of a program that launched with just a dozen NCHS seniors in 2011. Heather Bianco, coordinator of the Senior Internship Program, attributed the rise in popularity of ‘SIP’ its many benefits for students. “It just gives them experience out of school in a work environment that they don’t get in school and a lot of them have not had a job before, so it just gives a professional environment where they can get a real-life work experience,” Bianco, who is in her second full year of overseeing the program, told NewCanaanite.com. Here’s a look at its growth (article continues below):

 

Bianco took the reins from Sue Carroll, who as coordinator of the College and Career Center at NCHS had overseen the development and first several years of SIP with help from a volunteer steering committee.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

A Labradoodle is serving a two-week quarantine at its Orchard Drive home after biting a serviceman on the left leg on March 2. The Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department found out about the bite from Norwalk Hospital, where the victim had gone for treatment. The injury amounted to a small laceration and was not serious, according to Animal Control. No tickets were issued. ***

New Canaan Olive Oil is offering up its intimate 500-square-foot space at the “50-yard line” of Elm Street for private parties.

Around Town

Announcements: Locals Make Associate Attorney, Partner at New Canaan’s Oldest Law Firm

By |

In celebration of its 90th year, the members of Hawthorne, Ackerly & Dorrance, LLC, the oldest law firm based in New Canaan, announce two major personnel changes. David Hoyle, who has been practicing law with the firm for the past seven years as an associate attorney, has been made a member. Hoyle has just been added to the 2015 Connecticut and New England Super Lawyers lists as a “Rising Star” in the area of probate and estates, a distinction awarded to no more than 2.5 percent of lawyers in Connecticut. Attorney Hoyle earned his J.D. and LLM in Estate Planning and Elder Law from the Western New England School of Law in Springfield, Mass. and received his undergraduate degree from Trinity College.

Around Town

Eight NCHS Class of ’15 Grads Earn ‘Harold S. Kenney Scholarship’ Awards from Kiwanis Club

By |

The Kiwanis Club of New Canaan on Wednesday awarded eight deserving 2015 New Canaan High School graduates with $750 scholarships during an annual luncheon. Recipients of the Harold S. Kenney Scholarship awards—named for a longtime Kiwanian and NCHS headmaster who retired in 1973, a summer camp business manager and hockey coach who was named a Hay Fellow in the Humanities by Williams College in 1961—ranged from varsity athletes and aspiring bioengineers to a vocal performance standout who founded her own company and published a book. What they all have in common is “that they are all incredibly motivated and want to make a real difference in the world,” local attorney Jerry Miller, Kiwanis Club treasurer and head of its Scholarship Committee, said during the luncheon, held at Roger Sherman Inn. The Kiwanis Club’s mission is serving the children of the world, and in their own unique ways, the recently graduated NCHS honorees have found ways to lift their peers and younger kids. Here’s a brief bio on each of them, including a direct quote from their application for the scholarship:

Gabriella Borea, entering Fairfield University with possible area of specialization in Engineering: Compiled a cumulative GPA at New Canaan High School of 91.7 and coached at Smart Start Soccer, helping kindergarteners learn basic skills; refereed for the New Canaan Soccer Association; volunteered for TOP Soccer, working with handicapped children; helped elementary-level kids participate in soccer drills and games at the New Canaan Soccer Association Winter Camp.